16 January 2016 e-newsletter

from the Quarterly meeting on January 12th
REMINDER: CONSULTATION ENDS ON JAN 29th.

Background.
Bristol has thriving economy (it is the only city in the UK which pays more into central government than it takes out ie has above the average GDP) and a housing shortage.

Bristol is main centre for employment for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Bath is employment centre for BANES. There is pressure to build more houses in the area, specifically to accommodate people who will work in Bristol.

Bristol’s built up area is surrounded by green belt. Green Belt designation is a planning tool to prevent urban sprawl and towns/villages joining up; it is not a designation of landscape or agricultural land quality. A plan showing landscape designation eg nature reserves, priority habitats, areas of outstanding natural beauty, can be found in the JSP issues and options document p14.

A proportion of the additional housing development is proposed to be achieved by urban intensification. This will mean higher densities and probably taller developments in Bristol. Locations will need to be identified and greater detailed examination before this can be relied on.

Issues that are identified now will be the criteria on which Plan is assessed.
This is the first stage in the process of drawing up a Joint Spatial Plan and is about setting out the issues and options. It asks specifically whether the plan has identified all the issues so this is the opportunity to raise issues that you think need to be considered in the decision making process.

Transport.
The Joint Transport Study will be used to assess the options for planned development. The two studies are interdependent. Are all the transport issues included? what about consideration of journeys to the airport for instance. Anything else?

Most effective response procedure.
Please use online questionnaire to make points, rather than writing a general response, as this will make it easier to process; however any points you want to make are welcome.

Options are offered but it is most likely that a mixture will be chosen rather than a single option so:-

The most helpful response would be to set out what issues are most important to you and your community.

Some ideas discussed at meeting.
Some of the discussion points in the meeting last night eg new development should favour use of public transport to improve air quality / Green Belt should be preserved at all costs/ development should be located to support economic health of South Bristol/ densification of Bristol should be centred on Town and Local centres with higher rise blocks encouraged there/ development on the fringes of Bristol (in adjoining authority areas) should also provide eg park and ride provision to discourage use of car travel/ development should help to deliver improvements to existing transport infrastructure deficit eg reduce incoming traffic from developments on North of Bristol.

Is an agreement really going to happen?
If a mutually agreed spatial plan for the 4 unitary authorities is not adopted, developers will be able to push through development on their own land, which may not be best for anyone, so it is in all 4 authorities best interests to come up with a plan

Go to Questionnaire.
There are 15 questions to answer in the consultation.
You will need to register to complete the consultation form and you can sign up for updates as the plan progresses.
Link to Joint Spatial Plan and Joint Transport Study and questionnaire https://www.jointplanningwofe.org.uk/consult.ti

What next?
The next stage will be to consult on the preferred option. There may be more than one in the next consultation.